In-School & Community Workshops

Programs can be adapted for youth in K-12th grades:

4-H offers education around school-based food growing systems. Available lessons include: An Introduction to Our Food System; Crop Planning and Seed Starting; Soil and Garden Preparation; Seeds and Seed Parts; Parts of a Plant; Planting Your School Growing System; Garden Care and Pest Management; Garden Stewardship; Water, Nutrients, pH and Plant Health; Monitoring Your Hydroponics System; Seed Saving; and more.

The Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) department of Rutgers Cooperative Extension provides troubleshooting support related to plant care, pest management, soil testing and more.

Best suited for youth in 6th-12th grades:

• Food Miles – Learn how choosing locally grown food helps the environment, reduces CO₂ emissions, and supports our local food system.
• Be a Food Systems Investigator – Explore where their food comes from and investigate the people, places, and processes involved in producing, distributing, and accessing food within our local food system.

Best suited for youth in K-2nd grades:

• Pollinate Your Classroom – Understand and model the pollination process using craft bees and colored powder to pollinate paper flowers and demonstrate how the physical traits of pollinators facilitate pollen transfer and support plant reproduction.
• Compost Stew – Storytime of Compost Stew by Mary McKenna Siddals to learn the ABCs of composting before diving into making our own compost stew!

Best suited for youth in 3rd-5th grades:

• Seed Detectives – Explore the world of seeds by investigating, identifying, and uncovering the secrets of how plants grow.
• Learning About Compost and The Compost Food Web – Discover how food scraps can become healthy soil and the organisms that work together to make the magic happen.

Best suited for youth in K-2nd grades:

• Storytime STEAM – Choose from:
  • Field Trip to the Ocean Deep by John Hare – Dive into an underwater adventure to explore ocean life and create your own ocean creature.
  • The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires – Explore creativity and perseverance, make mistakes and build your most magnificent thing.
  • Be a Maker by Katey Howes – Bring an idea to life and experiment ideas.

Best suited for 4th-6th grades:

• Intro to Coding – Students are introduced to basic programming concepts and logic; they learn how Karel the Dog can be given a set of instructions to perform simple tasks.
• Parachutes – Learn the basics of drag, air resistance, and what materials would be best for designing a small paper clip parachute.

Best suited for 6th-8th grades:

• Paper Bridges – Explore simple types of bridges and using only paper, learn how to make a strong structure capable of holding books without collapsing.

Best suited for youth in 6th-12th grades:

• Meditation in a Bottle – Explore mindfulness and self-regulation by creating a calming sensory bottle that encourages focus, relaxation, and emotional awareness.
• Create Your Own Vision Board – Close your eyes and imagine your future as you learn to set, visualize, and measure goals while creating a vision board to turn your dreams into reality.
• Setting Intentions, Planting a Pot – Grow your confidence by planting seeds connected to your intentions and symbols of strength and self-care.

Best suited for youth in K-2nd grades:

• All About Us – Youth express their personalities through creative communal self-portraits and build confidence by sharing their interests, experiences, and stories with the group.

Best suited for youth in K-12th grades:

• Cooperative Games – Choose from a selection of our age-appropriate cooperative games that help foster collaboration, cooperation, trust, and communication skills. Ideal for club groups and classrooms. Contact us for our full list of standard cooperative game offerings and to discuss alternatives suited for your group.

Best suited for youth in 6th-12th grades:

• Public Speaking – Conquer your fear of public speaking. Session 1 teaches how to create an engaging presentation or speech along with tips and tricks for effective delivery. Session 2 allows students the opportunity to test their skills. *Note: This is a 2-session workshop

Best suited for youth in 5th-8th grades:

• Banking your Dollars – Explore how banks and credit unions work, what services they offer, and how they help people save, borrow, and manage their money.

Best suited for youth in 7th-12th grades:

• Evaluating Investment Alternatives – Learn about the differences between a savings account, a mutual fund, and other types of investment accounts. Get a better idea of which accounts might be best now and in the future by calculating interest rates.

Best suited for youth in 8th-12th grades:

• How Long Will You Pay for College? – Student loans can help pay for college, but what about repaying after graduation? This session will help students compare potential income based on career paths and get a sense of what it takes to pat for monthly living expenses—including repaying student loans.

Best suited for youth in K-12th grades:

• Seed Mosaics – create mosaics using grains and large seeds.
• Card Making – design personalized cards to celebrate and share with others.

Best suited for youth in 3rd-12th grades:

• Scrapbooking – preserve memories and share stories through photos, paper, drawings, and creative decorations.
• Journal Making – create a journal for writing, drawing, reflection and self-expression.
• Recycled Paper Grow Cards – make a handmade recycled paper embedded with seeds that can be planted and grown.

Best suited for youth in 6th-12th grades:

• Culture Talks Zine Making – Choose between:
  • My Food Story – Explore a crop, dish, ingredient, or food tradition that connects to your family, community, or identity and turn its story into a zine.
  • Traditions That Nourish Us – Dive into a tradition tied to a holiday, birthday, wedding, religious celebration, family ritual, or everyday moment. What do we do, why do we do it, and what makes it meaningful?
  • The Stories We Carry – Revisit a childhood bedtime story, folktale, family saying, legend, or memory that has stayed with you. Reimagine it, illustrate it, or unpack what it means to you now.